After four-year delay, Mumbai braces for high-stakes BMC battle on January 15
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "After four-year delay, Mumbai braces for high-stakes BMC battle on January 15")
Photograph: (AFP)
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, along with 28 other municipal corporations across Maharashtra, is slated to go to polls on January 15, following a Supreme Court order directing that the elections be completed before January 31.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and 28 other municipalities are set to go for polls on January 15, with the results to be announced on January 16. The polling will be held from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. The BMC elections are being conducted after a delay of nearly 4 years; they were last held in 2017, and the term of the elected body ended in March 2022. Around 2,869 seats will be on the ballot across municipal corporations in Maharashtra, with some of the prominent being Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The state election Commissioner, Dinesh Waghmare, in a press conference, said candidates can file nominations between December 23 to 30. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on December 31, and the candidates can withdraw their nominations till January 2.
The polls are being held following a Supreme Court ruling that directed the State Election Commission to conduct all local body elections by January 31, 2026, as the polls have been due since 2022.
The Mumbai fight
With a massive annual budget of Rs 74,427 crore, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is the wealthiest civic body not only in India but is considered richest in Asia. The civic body is expected to have a fierce fight with the new political alignment from the last elections in 2017.
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The upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are expected to see a direct contest between the state’s two principal political alliances, the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Mahayuti, which currently governs Maharashtra, comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Opposition alliance, MVA, includes the Indian National Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP).
Adding a new dimension to the contest, cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have reunited after two decades. The two leaders came together following a controversy over the alleged imposition of Hindi in the state and have announced that they will jointly contest the BMC polls.
